ROAR 2 Africa News

Greetings from Cape Town.Arrived at Radisson at 8pm on the 11th.ater flying from Livingston Zambia to Joberg then CT.

Update from Sept.7th:

SEPT.7TH: FLEW FROM joberg on BOTSWANNA Air to Maun...where we switched over to Mac Air a small 5 seater Cessna(I think)and Ray was in the co-pilots seat, flew us to the Khwai River Lodge.We landed on a dirt airstrip where at 5pm we were met by Onyx the 6'5" handsome wonderful lodge manager.Ngaire you'll love this one,after putting our 2 bags in the land cruiser he said,'My,these are light bags"

Since we were to late for a full drive Onyx took us out for a 1 hour trip and a sundowner...Gin and tonics for us after all we need that Quinine...right?

THE FIRST GAME W SAW WERE ABOUT 300 Cape Buffalo needles to say we weregrinning like fools and excited as 2 kids....FINALLY WE ARE HERE!!!! Africa!!!!Saffari!!!! ok ok enough with the shouting and exclamations.
Then came the giraffes,Impallas,sundowners with the hippos on the river...awesome.Then on the way back to the camp...SEVEN lions...2 adult females 4 boysand 1 girl....All in 1 hour!!

Next morning awakened at 530am coffee and out on our first real drive.Right off the bat we were looking for the cape buffaloas we could see the dustand our wonderful ranger JOHNSON knew that they were being stalked by lions...sure enought he was right and soon we were among thepride of about 7 or 8 as they spooked the herd and they took off againand the dust was everywere.One funny thing was in the middle of the stampede a bull was mounting a cow and trying to run at the same time...god Iwished I could have gotten that shot but it was too fast...
Saw more impallas,lots of birds,warthog,baboons and monkeys,hippos and then we came upon 4 gigantic bull elephants...awesome.
By now it was around 1030am and it was time for breakfast at the camp and a siesta.It was around 100F..From our veranda we watched another 4 elephants roll around and stand in the river all afternoon.The evening drive we saw giraffes,zebras etc again...was a so so drive....The last morning there we only had a couple of hours outas we were leaving for Victoria falls at 10am

Well our fearless ranger johnson spotted what he thought might be a leopard up in a tree and sure enough he had just killed an impalla but an hyeana had stolen his kill and was dining away on it and poor leopard was up a tree gnawing on a black buzzard?...anyway the shots were amazing then down he came and sat down and finished off his breakfast on the impalla...what could be better we finally saw a leopard and a hyeana'

Time to fly on Mac Air again a 12 seater this time to Zambia.

The Royal Livingstone was out of this world luxurious and the people marvelous.Took the helicopter ride over the falls. Later that day did the African Queen Sundowner cruise on the Zambesi River.
Ok thats enough or now , please excuse typos,spelling as I never did learn how to type.

The saga continues

OK, you've got me excited now. What a wonderful beginning to ROAR 2. Keep the safari mail coming.

Pat & Ray:

Whoa, you guys know how to stretch the limits of having fun! Good for you. Your brain must be chock full of memorable experiences and the adventure isn't over with yet.

Carry-on and report in when you're not breathless.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.

Voltaire
French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)

Almost there! We are sitting in the Concorde Lounge at Heathrow. I just ran into Dena & Grant. They will be joining Tonya & I for a champaigne toast after they freshen up. They just landed after a long flight from LA while Tonya & I visited the Queen's house in London. They had a special exhibit set up in Buckingham Palace that displayed the set up for a full State Dinner. It was incredible. Looked like enough gold and silver to wipe out the national debt of most countries!
We are off to Cape Town in just a couple of hours!

Our first full day in Cape Town.After a nice breakfast at the Radisson,we bought tickets on the red line hop on hop off bus and did a city tour including Table Mountain. It was sunny, no wind and 24 C.(high 75F).It was fantastic.the views were unbelievable...soooo clear.Took lots of photos.Wish you were here Karen to tell me what to do to load some of them.

Then we did the Ocean Aquarium and watched them feed the sting rays.Ray and I have gone swimming with them in Grand Cayman and know how great they are.

Then back to the Radisson bar where we enjoyed a drink or two or three on the water watching the ships go by.Don't order a frozen margaritta or a Mohito....not like at home.I finally ordered a bottle of Stellenbach Rose wine and they put my room number on it for later tonight or tomorrow....our waiter Soloman is a sweetie.

Planning on dinner out tonight....maybe GOLD an African Restraunt....not sure yet...will report later.

Ok thats it for now just waiting for fellow ROARers to check in. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow....maybe Blue Line hop mon hop off.They only like Rands here in Cape Town or so it seems,
Maybe the Docks....anyway a new adventure.

TTFN from Cape Town

:b: :cheers

Love your reports Pat - Thanks

Sounds like ROAR2 is off to a roaring good start. Thanks for the reports and keep 'em coming! :)

End of Day one in Cape Town.
We took the hotel shuttle to GOLD a South African restraunt (cost 80.00 Rand).

It was a Tasting menu of African food and was very good. The music and singing and dancing was loads of fun...they just kept on dancinmg....just like the energizer bunny.Met a table of folk from Argentina and one from Germany....very nice people.

Caught a cab back to the hotel (cost 28.00 Rand...do you think we were a tad bit ripped off by the hotel?)Can you say sucker?...Once burnt...twice shy.

Off to bed...tomorrow is another day to experience more of Africa.

It just keeps getting better and better.
Starting tomorrow the rest will be posting and with pictures I hope.
TTFN from Cape Town.

We finally made it to the Raddison after 10 pm. Were so ready to be,somewhere except in an airplane seat!!!

Delta was a very pleasant surprise. More tomorrow

Can't wait to join you all....still packing and unpacking...

YEAH Pam can't wait to hear more and about Delta too -

My friends Gemma and Bill are now there. Say hi from me.

We slept in this morning, while we were having breakfast there were mother and baby whales not far out. But by the time I got to my camera, a boat came along and scared them away.

I have to,charge this little thing now.

Pam, What a view for breakfast! Hope the rest of your day is just as delightful.

So happy to hear from you guys. What a great site to see baby whales Pam !

Breakfast while viewing whales - sounds great to me. Maybe you'll have another chance to photograph the babies, Pam. Have a wonderful time.

Second day in Cape Town.Went down to breakfast on the ocean front terrace and who did we see but Carol and Ralph and their two friends David and Mary Elaine.

We then proceeded to the hop on hop off pick up, thgeyt were off to Table Mountain on the red Line and we were going on the blue line to the Kelenbosch Botanical Gardens and the Bird sanctuary.

It was another spectacular day...hot and sunny.
The Chelsey Garden show was at the KELENBOCH... an exact replica of the Londfon show.You really need a few days to see it all.

BACK TO THE HOTEL...in need of a drink.
Low and behold...Ralph,Carol,David and Mary beat us to it.

Made dinner reservations to go to Buluga for dinner...meeting at 6:30 for pick up. Will report later on the restaraunt.

Haven't seen anyone else so far,but then we don't know anyone nor they us...but hey, that will soon change.

TTFN.

Second day in Cape Town.Went down to breakfast on the ocean front terrace and who did we see but Carol and Ralph and their two friends David and Mary Elaine.

We then proceeded to the hop on hop off pick up, thgeyt were off to Table Mountain on the red Line and we were going on the blue line to the Kelenbosch Botanical Gardens and the Bird sanctuary.

It was another spectacular day...hot and sunny.
The Chelsey Garden show was at the KELENBOCH... an exact replica of the Londfon show.You really need a few days to see it all.

BACK TO THE HOTEL...in need of a drink.
Low and behold...Ralph,Carol,David and Mary beat us to it.

Made dinner reservations to go to Buluga for dinner...meeting at 6:30 for pick up. Will report later on the restaraunt.

Haven't seen anyone else so far,but then we don't know anyone nor they us...but hey, that will soon change.

TTFN.

One more checking in, but not there yet! We're in lounge at JNB waiting for flight to CPT in about 1/2 hour.

Flights on Delta were loooong! We ran into Michele and Don in the Delta Crown Room in ATL. Wait until you see them! We were very disappointed in our FA's in biz class, but it's almost over and we are on the final leg! Hope to find some creatures crawling when we get to the Radisson around 10p.m., but I doubt it will happen!

Looking forward to Birkenhead tomorrow for 2 days of decompression!

We arrived in Cape Town early this morning from London to a beautiful warm and sunny day. Since the weather was so nice, we headed for Table Mountain where the views were spectacular.

We're about to get a snack for dinner then to sleep - it will be nice to have a bed after two straight nights on planes. Looking forward to the trip to Birkenhead tomorrow.

Photos from beautiful Cape Town:














Dena & Grant

Fantastic pictures, Grant. Looks like a fabulous day there. All you Roarers have a super time--love hearing all about it.

Great photos Grant...wish I knew how to post them.
Dinner tonight at Beluga,a converted wharehouse with an awesome winelist. Had 3 bottles of 2004 Stellanboch Chardonnay....very nice if i say so myself...good choice Ralph.

Four of us had Kingklip fish,Ray had beef and Ralph had Ngaires favorite...lamb chops. Everyone agreed it was a delicious meal.
We were upstairs in the wine room,under the rafters,

Off to Hermanus in the morning so its bed time now.

Tomorrow is another adventure as wemeet our fellow Roarers.

TTFN.

Beautiful pics, Grant! It is so wonderful hearing from all of you. I can't wait to hear more - keep the ROARmail coming, please!!!!

Hi everyone.

Cant believe Grant has posted pictures already afer that long flight and then a full day in Cape Town. Bravo Grant.

Well I am in Cape Town at the Radisson. Been checking and everyone has made it in on time so far and no lost bags. So that is great news. Four more to come in tonight, Olivia, Jessica, Mitch and Bert.

The last two days have been absolutely gorgeous as Grant's pictures show. Tomorrow it is supposed to cloud up and then rain later and the next day (my groups shark day) be windy, cloudy, and rainy. Then clear up for a couple of days (Cindy's group may really luck out at Birkenhead House) and then two more rainy days. Cant control that weather. So everyone cross their fingers the weather men are off the mark again and it wont be windy and rainy. Clouds are okay.

Wish we had these two wonderful days at Birkenhead House. However, everyone that came in by this morning did get to go to Table Mountain on the perfect day so that is a plus.

We spent a night at the new La Residence in the wine country last night that is really spectacular. This is a sister property to Birkenhead House. Don and Michele are spending a couple of nights there so I am sure they will report in also.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and officially kicking off ROAR ll.

Loved the pictures, Grant. It's so much fun to see everyone reporting in. I can't wait to read more.

It's late, I'm soon going to bed. But would you believe, when I was checking in at the Radisson, someone behind me said to my daughter next to me, "are you Jes?" It was John and Tonya as we were checking in at the hotel tonight!. John and Tonya and I met later at the outside windy bar for about an hour in our fleeces, and had a great time catching up since our last lct cruise together on TAP! So much fun meeting up with them once again. John was texting Suzannne the whole time.

Oh, this just sounds so wonderful, keep the mail going! We love it!

Grant, I enjoyed seeing your beautiful photos. Thanks for posting them. I can't wait for the next ones.
Have tons of fun, Guys!!!

We're so happy for all of you! Tom and I are toasting all you ROARers !

Have fun Roarers and keep posting :ch: :woh: :hello1:

Great pictures, Grant and I am loving the posts!

Looks like a beautiful day, Grant. Thank you for posting your photos. I will be checking every day or two. Judy & John

Hello from Birkenhead House! What a gorgeous place, but the weather isn't so gorgeous right now. Wind is blowing like crazy, hopefully will blow itself out before the shark watcher are supposed to go out tomorrow.

Pam,
Yes I hope it clears up as the sharks are a sight to behold. Grant, appreciate your pictures. Glad to hear most have made it without too many hitches. I know some of the people leaving Dallas had delays and cancellations but hopefully will make their connections.

Dinner here was so much fun tonight! Just gotta make lemonade, as they say! Especially with weather, just nothing you can do about it. At one point, I think it was one of the men, said, "oh, that's only a garden hose (infer with a light behind it). It was during dinner, and I didn't even notice, but the rain was actually going sideways, and to look out the window, it looked like a movie set (with a garden hose) it was raining that hard! Fear not, no UNHappy campers here! And that rain only lasted for a few minutes. We had a fantastic dinner, selection of two apps (squid or aubergine), then cream of broccoli soup, then choice of beef tenderloin or Sea Cob (Blue nose is name chef hates to use for this fish) Dessert was some kind of "pudding" that was more like cake to me, not a favorite. But they can do a mean DECAF coffee, or maybe it isn't and that is why I am still wired up after waking at 7 a.m. I think it is jet lag.

I can't think of a better place to come to decompress after the time and trouble it takes to get to SA from the US before even starting to tour in Cape Town (maybe because I've already visited here). When I return in November, definitely going to treat this place as a pre-cruise spa if the weather drastically improves tomorrow and I can see the sharks and get out and walk! For now, the views from almost any room I've seen are fantastic. So far, I've got mine #7, which my Jes calls the "spinster's room", the only one with twin beds. Pam and Mark are next to me in #8 with a gorgeous 4 poster bed WAY up high. Mitch and Bert are #9 where the bed is in the middle of the room, sort of (tiled half wall behind it) and a beautiful sunken bathroom, and windows on like 3 sides! Tonight we visited friends of lct'ers in the "Honeymoon Suite", must be #1 that had a very large veranda and tiny private pool, and step down tub. They were happy campers!

It's still windy and chilly, and while I'm hoping tomorrow brings calm seas and bright sun, unlike most I'm with, I'll be back in November to experience it again. Maybe good mark of a hotel, you are happy with it in good weather and bad.

HA HA HA Olivia tell Jes Tony and I have the spinster's room in November - only downside I see is his snoring I won't be able to reach over and pinch his nose have to throw a pillow....your reports are wonderful and BH sounds fantastic - I can't wait - I just plan to chill there -

BH sure sounds wonderful ! I'm so happy #9 is a nice room since we'll be there in November. It sounds like a perfect resort good weather or bad!

Carol and and I are having tooo much fun. What a great trip so far. Missing the sharks to day due to weather but poor us have to go wine tasting instead. Food is great , accomodations outstanding and the people we are with surpass all the above. Wish all could be here to enjoy this paradise with us. The plane ride to get here is something else but would do it again without hesitiation as this so such a grand trip. Have had some really outstanding So Af wines so far. Very impressed. I have too complaints about the food. There is too much of it and it is too good. Bad for the waist line.

Will try to check in again but I know others will do a better job then I.

Marcie-
You and Tom will love room #9. Just remember the steps in the bathroom start as soon as you pass through the bathroom door! Bert and I are having a fantastic time. We have met wonderful new LCT friends. No sharks today but more wine-oh well, we have to do what we have to do! Tonya won the award for last one to breakfast. Bert and I enjoyed having dinner with John and Tonya last night. OK Eugene-here's the menu-Spicy Calamari, Filet of Cob (local fish) or Fillet of Beef with Porcini mushroom sauce, then choice of either a homemade Malva pudding or baked Camembert with crackers and figs. We washed all that down with local Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinotage. It's a tough love, but someone has to live it-more later-

Photos from Birkenhead House:


Birkenhead House






Dinner at Birkenhead House.


Tonia, John, Bert, & Mitch.


Mark, Olivia, Pam, & Jessica


Tonya's Birthday Cake Last Night.

As always, Ken, WONDERFUL photos. Of course, with spectacular scenery and smiling faces, you have great images to capture. Looking forward to "More Roar."

Mitch, Sounds delicious. Isn't Birkenhead unbelievable? I can just imagine what the other property Ngaire visited is like. Weather in the pictures looks pretty good. Hope it lasts for your shark excursion (or was it scrubbed?). Ken, great pictures, as usual.

Gail and I are up in Montauk. We were supposed to go back to DC today, but it's rained all weekend, so we're staying an extra day because it's sunny.

We'll keep checking LCT for ROAR2 updates. Can't wait to see the pictures from the camps.

--------------

Gail and Eugene

Photos in Hermanus, SA:


Bouchard Finlayson Vinyard.


Mary Elaine Enjoys Wine Tastings.


Hermanus From an Overlook.


Southern Right Whales in Hermanus.

What a fabulous time you all are having! It sounds every bit as wonderful as anticipated, and you all certainly aren't letting a "little bit of rain" put a damper on you at BH! I can't wait to read more - I am just soaking up every post and every picture. Thank you ALL.

Hi everyone.

Well NO sharks for our group but we did make the best of it and went wine tasting. Birkenhead House used the house van, the villa station wagon and two of their personal cars to drive us around. We saw some of the really nice residential areas and the area for an overlooks that I have not seen before as well.

The goes from rain, to sun, to cloudy all day. Grant and Dena went to town to walk back and then there was a heavy shower. Bet they are wet little people right now.

We played a little Pooch this afternoon in the main room with the fire going, Bert won and Pam and Jim learned to play.

Food has been great and I always enjoy Birkenhead House so much. Love coming here. It is a nice place for people to relax and get to know each other. This is a very compatible and happy group.

Tomorrow we leave and Cindy's group comes in and the best day all week is supposed to be the 17th which is that groups shark day. So I think they will have the shark experience.

Wine Tour and Cape Point tour in the next few days for us.

Grant and Ken thanks for the photos. Grant looks like you are off to winning another photo contest.

Have a great time. We are heading to Houston on Wednesday, your trip sounds like more fun. Business in Houston is not up and running as of Monday. They hope by Wednesday. We will see.

Thanks all for the wonderful posts, we all appreciate you taking the time. We hang on every word and love every photo.

We are getting ready to return to Cape Town today after two wonderful days at Birkenhead House. The whale watching is incredible - we walked with Tonya and John this morning and saw many whales very close to shore - it was very cool that we could hear them breathe a few times. Hopefully we got some good photos - we'll post those later. In the meantime, here are a few more photos from Hermanus:

WOW!!!

What great photos, we are getting very excited about heading to Birkenhead..

Thanks for sharing.

FV

Awesome photos and posts - thanks for sharing!

Thoroughly enjoying the posts and pics...thanks to all who are making our virtual safari so wonderful back home! :app:

Hello ROARers,

Just looked at the pictures that Grtant has taken, WOW !! Also looked like you all had quite a GALA at Birthday and dinner. Thanks for sharing, and the best to all. Rod & Cynthia

Birkenhead

Seems like this is one place a person should visit at least once in a lifetime. I think you'd get a taste of what Heaven's like.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Hi All-
Last night a bunch of us went to Bukhara, thanks to Olivia, and had a great feast-Dena and Grant, Richard, Olivia and Jessica, John and Tonya, Pat and Ray (who were great sports as Indian food is NOT their favorite) and Bert and I. Today we went on the Wine Tour starting with a visit to a brand new luxury sister property of Birkenhead House, La Residence, which was breahtakingly beuatiful, followed by a wine tasting, lunch and glass shopping. And on the 4th day, there will be sunlight!! We all appreciated the opportunity to see La Residence whch will clearly be an option for ROAR III. Well, time to prepare for our next event, group dinner at Baia-

Today Grant, Jessica and I drove from Cape Town back to Hermanus to join Cindy's group on their shark viewing tour (since ours was cancelled due to poor weather). The conditions were ideal except that the recent bad weather had stirred up the water so that the underwater visibility was poor. It was very interesting and exciting to see the great white sharks up close and personal! I pulled a few pictures from the many that Grant took to give you a quick preview. I'm looking out the hotel room window to a beautiful full moon reflecting on the bay. Life is good in Cape Town! Tomorrow is a free day for our group.

Dena

WOW Dena, up close and personal for sure! Great photos! Thanks for sharing them.

Dena, thanks to you and Grant for driving Jes back there for this experience. I am just back from dinner at Baia with the group, and it was great! I know you guys were waaaay too tired, and there is a room service tray in my room to show it!

Dinner seemed to go well tonight! My table ordered 4 entrees for 5 people and did fine! I think Pat was taking pictures.

Well, we are relaxing comfortably in room 1 in Birkenhead House after a great day in Hermanus. Our trip started on the 14th out of JFK on SAA. All went smoothly. Usually it takes an hour 15 to get to the airport and it took us just under an hour. The lounge was nice. They served Bagels and lox, soup, fruit salad, cheese platter and the usual snack crap. We had no problems with security. The only negative was that we taxied for one hour at Kennedy before taking off. Food was surprisingly good JFK to Darkar, service good and the flight was good. Food was less than good Darkar on...We were running rather tight on time in JBG and a lovely man told us to follow him and he would help us make the plane. We followed him through short cuts and had time to spare for our flight to Capetown. Both our bags and we were out in minutes and our driver was there waiting for us and whisked us away to the Radisson. Doug wanted to eat at Baia, so we grabbed a cab for $4 and went straight over and had a great meal there before crashing in for a night's sleep.

Breakfast the next morning was surprisingly good. We saw Russ and Debbie and didn't realize we saw Andrea and Leonard and Bill and Gemma (because we hadn't yet met). Soon, Arlene and Gil arrived and introductions were made. Gil and Arlene compared notes with us regarding our flights as we took the same one a day or two apart and it seemed like they were different airlines. They had terrible food and service. However, they received boarding passes all the way through and we were told this wasn't possible and had to check in in JBG, which is what caused us so much angst. We were met with cold, blustery rainy weather and I was sorry I hadn't taken warmer clothes. I had considered doing this, but really wanted to pack light and didn't have any in between jacket for this type of weather except my leather one and left it home. I was really sorry I did that!!

We wandered to the lobby and said our hellos and introductions and piled into the bus and off to Hermanus. When we arrived, it was good to see old friends and say hello/good byes while being handed some wonderful hot chocolate with amaretto. Since our rooms weren't ready, we all settled down to a long lunch and then checked out one another's beautiful rooms. All the beds were covered in exquisite flower arrangements that looked like embroidery. The flowers were even arranged on the shower mats and the tub towels. There was tremendous attention to detail. We all received lovely gifts of Birkenhead hats which was a nice surprise. Our discussions were always punctuated with "ooh, look there's a whale over there. There's another one. And another one...." The whales come so close to shore. Doug, June, Cindy, MarK and I went to town to see what there was there and to pick us some sundries. I found a warm jacket, Mark and Cindy found some hats for the safari and then we wandered to the whale walk.

The shuttle picked us up and we returned to a fire in the fireplace and hors d'hoevres and then settled in for the night for all sorts of discussions that carried on throughout dinner.

Today, we awoke to a beautiful day...blue, sunny skies....just right for our shark trip. We had breakfast outdoors overlooking the sea. Jess, Dena and Grant drove up from Capetown to join us and we headed off at 11. We stopped off at a beautiful site to see some whales and then finally boarded the boat at 1pm. Within about 10 minutes we dropped anchor and within minutes of throwing in the chum, the sharks were circling us. We left about 4-4:30. So it was a fun afternoon. The dive master said that we saw about 6 sharks total and this was only the 3rd time this month that they had been able to go out, so we were lucky. We were even luckier, because he had gone out this morning and they hadn't even seen any sharks. We saw non-stop sharks. Once we arrived back, we were met with a fire in the fireplace again and snacks. The staff had set up a lovely table for some honeymooners in a separate room. They had sprinkled rose petals all over the floor and lighted a fireplace for them. It was so romantic.

This has been a great two days. It's been great seeing old friends and making new ones. We will be sorry to see this group leave. Doug and I are staying for another two days and we are glad we made the choice to stay longer. We're going to go to the wildflower festival and to the wineries and to walk along the the beach walk. We were supposed to go out on the shark tour on the 19th, but we decided to switch to today since the weather has been so iffy. Hope the weather stays nice for everyone else as it is really beautiful here.

Loving all of your great reports and pixs - makes us look so forward to our November trip hearing about your great experiences at BH and in CPT - am totally confused about who goes where for the lodges but it'll be fun to hear the reports -

I can hardly believe we'll be there in a few short months. Your reports are so exciting.

I know what you mean, Joanna. I gave up trying to figure out who goes where.

Looking forward to seeing you and Tony.

Agree Donna - nice group in November and I look forward to seeing you both - Joanna

I wrote a whole post and then just lost it. Back to “do it in Word first”.

Yesterday while we were doing our wine tour (perfect weather for that day it makes such a difference) we got a call from the Great White Shark company. They said the only real possibility of going out in the next few days was the morning of the 18th. The next group was supposed to go out on the 19th. So we decided to give it a try on the morning of the 18th.

12 people in the last group and 5 of us from the first group decided to get up at 5.00 am and drive to Hermanus and try to go out and see the sharks. That is VERY early. When I looked out it was a little windy so I was immediately concerned but the shark people said “ it is still a go”.

So off we go, a two hour drive down. On arrival in Hermanus we got out to see the whales. Although it was windy and chilly the sea looked okay. The direction of the wind makes a difference in the roughness of the seas. So I thought it was going to be okay. However, the driver said “sorry folks it has been cancelled for today”. So here we are 17 people, now hungry and wanting more coffee. Twelve people not due to check in until noon and five who were not supposed to return to Birkenhead House. It was 7.30 am and we were about two minutes away from Birkenhead House.

We called and Birkenhead House was so gracious. This is a small place that holds only 22 when full. So it is completely full, and 17 new people invade the property, right at breakfast time. Within a few minutes they had coffee for everyone and very shortly after they offered a complimentary continental breakfast to all of us as long as we ate in the lounge and left the tables for the guests they already had in the house.

I really love this property they are so accommodating and this was just one more example of how special Birkenhead House can be.

It was fun to surprise those we saw who looked quite astonished at seeing us arrive. Pat was the only one up and was shortly joined by Fred. The only others we saw were Cathy, Doug, and Leonard. All the rest were tucked up in bed. After about an hour the Cape Town group left and drove the two hours back. Oh well, we gave it a try. I have been here about three times before and never had any trouble getting out on the shark tour. Cape Town has had a hard winter and it just does not seem to want to turn into spring yet.

Hopefully on GAME the weather will have settled down back to normal.

So tomorrow the 19th for Ngaire and Cindy’s group it is a Cape Point tour. It is supposed to be partly sunny and windy but no rain. Hope that holds up it is no fun when it rains. Then on the 20th, Saturday off to the game parks.

Sounds like everyone is having a wonderful time. Grant, the shark pictures were definitely up close and personal, thought they were going to jump right out of my computer!!!

Enjoying all the different posters and I agree Donna and Joanna, have no idea who is where or when! :D

I am going to dip in here, while I am on a "real" computer; came to the business center and rented some time.

Yesterday's wine country tour was just beautiful and the weather was perfect! Last night at BAIA was as incredible as ever, we are considering crashing the party over there tonight.

We did some shopping today. We thought we had covered all the nicer jewelry stores day before yesterday, in Mark's quest for a black diamond but found two more. One said she would try to find one, but probably couldn't in time. Then Mark saw a store that you had to buzz the door to get in, and they had four loose stones. Two were far too large, one was heart-shaped, but they had one square one that was just slightly smaller than he was looking for, so he jumped on that one. He's so thrilled. I hit the Red Shed and a store called Indaba (I think, don't have the bag handy). While were in the mall it started raining and blowing, so we found a cab home.

Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow for the Cape Point tour.

I am enjoying the reports and photos from all you ROARers! So sorry that the weather is not cooperating. Sounds as if you are all having a great time in spite of that. Hope the weather is better today, for your tour.

We went on the same shark trip as Grant. Here are a few more shots of our watery friends.









Doug

I love hearing from all of you ROARers - thanks so much for continuing to post so we can share your adventure with you!

Today we still had a rental car so we decided to drive out to the winelands to see what we missed yesterday when we did the shark viewing. First we stopped in at a cheetah outreach center thanks to some tips from Andrea and Leonard. We did an encounter with 5 very adorable and sweet cheetah cubs who were about 5 months old. As we finished at the cheetah center, the rain began coming down pretty hard and didn't really let up the rest of the day until we got back to Cape Town. Due to the weather we did not see the winelands scenery at its best, but it looks very nice. We stopped in the town of Franschhoek for some shopping and bought some nice craft items. Looks like the weather will be better tomorrow, and we look forward to seeing penguins.

Wonderful cheetah pictures Grant and Dena.

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Eugene

And awfully friendly cheetahs!

Grant and Dena, I am here, but not with you today, Those kitties look SO SWEET!

Today was a whirlwind for us. My Jes didn't pack well, not imagining that it could be so cold. Yesterday, we got her closed toed shoes, ended up she loved and bought same Merrill brand that Ngaire loves so much. Today it was raining so much and she had no rain gear, and after shopping a bit, got her a water resistant wind breaker much cheaper than spending way more for a real rain jacket she would never use again. What she got, I bought, and will use it next trip in November! At the end of our shopping, we had an hour for lunch before our tour, and Jes was in line at the food court and ran into Mark and Pam! We both chose to eat at the Thai place in the fast food area, as we had 40 minutes before our Township tour, which was great!

This was a highlight of my trip, just because I didn't do this before on ROAR 1 like Anne and Gary! I have always looked at those shanty areas when coming from the airports and going on various outings on my visits here, I was so curious to be there. Now I have stepped on those lands, and walked the paths. Our guide took us inside one shanty. It was a pretty large room, probably 20x20. There were maybe 10 on our tour, but there were a few local people inside just waiting for the visit. There, we watched 2 men finishing the cleaning of a couple of chickens. All the feathers had been plucked and there were a couple of women opposite putting the discarded feathers in a bucket. The men were scrapping off the bristles, I guess, and trimming the feet. They seemed to spend a lot of time when we were there still cleaning rather featherless creatures. Funny thing, guide asked what we thought this place was! I said butcher market, other said "take-out", many other guesses, but it was the local pub!

Those ladies in charge here who own the place brew the ale, and darned if they didn't put a bucket of it on the floor for everyone to try! Pass around the bucket and your tour group is supposed to finish it off before you are allowed to leave! Everyone is so friendly here. I don't think I've ever seen more smiles anywhere I've visited. Our guide Zippo told us today, don't be shy, they love your visits to their townships, and they really do!

My problem here was with my cameras, all of them lost battery power within about 10 minutes (3 CAMERAS!) after we left the District 6 Museum at that start of the tour! Local guy took me to the 7-11 type store, Jes told me they would be bad batteries, I bought 8 for $3, and they were dead in 10 minutes. She had this problem in VIetnam.

It was one of my greatest travel days ever into a place so strange, foreign and friendly, and I didn't even have a camera to record most of it! I hope when Andrea and Leonard are here, they will do a tour like this, with all cameras working!!

WOW Olivia, I loved hearing about your tour. What a great experience. Too bad about your cameras though. I'd sure have enjoyed seeing those photos! Keep having fun and keep reporting, please!
And Dena & Grant, your cheetah cub photos are wonderful.

Great story Olivia.We did the Soweto tour in Joberg and felt the same way.

I have an announcement to make...if you want top notch restaurants ...get Ralph to choose them!!!

Last night Ralph,Carol,David,Mary Elaine,Ray and I went out of town to Camps Bay to the RoundHouse Restaurant. It was built in 1743 by the Dutch as a Garrison house protecting the harbour.It is now a World Heritage site. To see it go to www.roundhouserestaurant.com

THE MENU WAS OF THE TASTING TYPE WHERE THEY SERVED THE APPROPRIATE WINES(ooops sorry caps were on) with each course. Lets see if I can remember the courses we selected.

APPETISERS; HONEY Roasted vegitabletart withVanilla Marscapone

Souffle of Gorganzola with poached pear andwalnut foam.

Carpace of Springbok & tartar Kurdu with a quail egg and rocket greens.

Soft Shelled crabs(awesome)

Grilled Salmon

Grilled Quail with date risotto (yum)

Roasted Fillet of beef

Duo of Duck

Needless to say we wanted everything on the menu.

The wines were exellent and the setting was ,well, "out of Africa".

As I have already stated,Ralph chose the Beluga and tonights places to dine...thank you,thank you.thank you.....You are now in charge of our dining spots in Copenhagan and everywhere in Norway next year.

Earlier in the morning I went back to Hermanas to try the sharks again but as already noted no go....but that was ok by me as it gave us another chance to visit EDEN better known as Birkenhead house again....god I love that place.

Bert and Mitch told us about a neat African gallery where they had purchased a beautiful mask ,Ray said he didn't go for masks....he,he,he....guess what he got...yup masks..2 of them.Really pretty.

Well its8am now and time to get breakfast then off to Cape Point and another wonderful adventure as only Ngaire and Ken can plan

TTFN

Well, we've been here a week and this is the first time we've had a chance to check into LCT. ROAR 2 is AWESOME! Leonard and I are having so much fun. South Africa is a very complex and fascinating country and it's been an honor sharing it with so many terrific LCTers. This group is so much fun!

Len's got some great photos that I'll need to post soon. I hope to do that tonight, because I'm not sure how great the Internet connection will be at Kings Camp and Leopard Hills.

To everyone who encouraged us to book this trip, THANK YOU! Can anyone say ROAR 3?!

Andrea & Leonard

Pat sounds like you 6 are having a great time - not surprised - food and wine sounds wonderful - keep reporting we love it!

Pat, what a wonderful menu, the venue sounded PERFECT!

So happy to get these great updates. I loved seeing the Cheetahs with Dena & Grant, that would be so special and also hearing about Olivia's township tour. Keep having a great time! (I agree, Ralph picks wonderful restaurants....even here in So. California!)

Wow - the cheetahs are adorable! And those shark photos were great!

We are now cooling our heels at the Intercontinental at the Johannesburg Airport after traveling 36 hours from our house to here. Terminal 5 at Heathrow is terrific and the BA facilities top notch - a great improvement.
We checked in at 7 this morning and were thrilled to find out that our room was actually ready. Napped a bit then I headed up to the spa for a 2 1/2 hour package including a salt scrub, Indian head massage, reflexology and aromatherapy massage. All were terrific and very reasonable.

The IC is very nice - the reviews on tripadvisor are very mixed so I was a bit leery, but the hotel has been undergoing renovation which seems to be winding up. Our room is very comfy and looks to be brand new. The spa was renovated also and has an indoor pool, steam showers, exercise facilities and at least 4 treatment rooms. The staff is great - everyone you see greats you with a smile. Can't beat the location, right across from the airport.

We meet the rest of the group tomorrow around noon for the flights to the camps. Can't wait for the first game drive.

Good to hear from you Leslie and that you are enjoying your stay at the IC.

Wishing you and Brad a fantastic time!

And the official exchange rate was around 8.23 on 9/18. You'll all need extra suitcases for the goodies you can buy.

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Eugene

Fantastic reports...I love hearing from all the different groups/couples at different spots all at the same time! Here is where we can REALLY begin to picture what Ngaire's spreadsheet must have looked like :ohmy: ;)

Thank you all, continue to enjoy and keep those reports coming!!!

Don't know how to describe the day except awesome.Up,breakfast,load vans and take off at 930am. stopped to see whales ? I seem to be a jinx for them...Off to an ostrich farm where everyone kept shooting those great big birds.Cute little ostrich skin purses starting at 1600 rand ...even one for14,ooo.oorand.

OFF TO cAE pOINT AND IT WAS UNBELUEVABLE...OTHERS WILL POST PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS(darn it those pesky caps again...sorry,)The views were spectacular.

Off to the Black Marlinfor a delicious nlunch of salad/lobster bisque and for most a large shrimp/lobster.

THEN WE STOPPED TO SEE THE PENGUINS... THEY WERE ADORABLE...EVEN GOT PHOTOS OF THE CHICKS IN THE NEST....dammmit those caps again...can you tell I'm not a typest.

This evening Rsalph chose another excellent restaurant...95... awesome food. Ralph & Carol, FRED & PAT,RAY & I..Would you believe 3 white Chardonney and 1 red...can't believe we ate everything and drank everydrop.

Haven't laughed so much in eons,,,,soooo much fun.

OK off to bed ...early moorning wake=up...off to the game camps. LCTers will be ROARING tomorrow.

The adventure continues....

Pat described our day very well so we'll just add a few photos. Though we went through a few small showers, for the most part it was a sunny (though chilly) day. We enjoyed spectacular views at Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. We just got back from a great dinner with Bert, Mitch, Tonya and John at Savoy Cabbage. Excellent food (the adventurers of the group had kudu) and we continue to be surprised at how reasonable the prices of food and wine are for the quality. A strong exchange rate certainly helps!

We're all packed for the safari camps and very excited about heading out tomorrow. We've really enjoyed our time in Cape Town and Hermanus, and so it's on to the next adventure!


June and a friendly (hungry) ostrich



Lighthouse at Cape Point



Cliffs at Cape Point



Penguins at Boulders Beach

Great job with the pictures, Grant! Too late to post more, as we have 6 a.m. wake-up call and it is midnight! GREAT DAY today! Sunshine!

Great pix, Dena and Grant. Have a super time.

Pictures are great, reports are even better.

Pat, my dear, you are simply having too much fun :app: :app: :app: :app: .